Language/French/Grammar/Combining-tenses

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Combining Tenses in French Grammar

Introduction

Mastering the art of combining tenses in French is crucial for expressing yourself clearly and accurately. This lesson aims to explain how various tenses can be used together in complex sentences to convey nuanced meanings.

1. Basic Tenses

Present Tense

The present tense (Le Présent) is frequently used alongside other tenses to create layers of meaning.

• Example 1: Il dit qu'il part demain. (He says that he is leaving tomorrow.)
• Example 2: Je pense qu'il a raison. (I think he is right.)

Past Tense

Passé Composé

The Passé Composé is often paired with the Imparfait to provide a complete picture of past events.

• Example: Il a dit qu'il partait. (He said that he was leaving.)

Imparfait

The Imparfait is commonly used for setting the scene when telling stories or speaking about past habits.

• Example: Quand il était jeune, il allait souvent à la plage. (When he was young, he often went to the beach.)

Future Tense

The Futur Simple and the Futur Proche can be used together to describe upcoming events with varying degrees of immediacy.

• Example: Je vais étudier, car j'aurai un examen demain. (I'm going to study because I will have an exam tomorrow.)

2. Conditional and Subjunctive

Conditional

The conditional tense (Conditionnel) can be paired with the Imparfait to discuss hypothetical situations.

• Example: Si j'avais le temps, je voyagerais plus. (If I had the time, I would travel more.)

Subjunctive

The subjunctive mood (Subjonctif) can be used alongside the present or past tenses to convey doubt, necessity, or emotion.

• Example: Je doute qu'il puisse venir. (I doubt that he can come.)

3. Advanced Combinations

Sequence of Tenses

Maintaining a logical sequence of tenses (Concordance des Temps) is important for clarity.

• Example: Il savait qu'il aurait un test. (He knew he would have a test.)

4. Common Mistakes

Inconsistent tense combinations can lead to unclear or incorrect sentences. Watch out for these pitfalls.

5. Examples and Exercises

Examples

• Using Passé Composé with Imparfait: Elle a dit qu'elle était fatiguée. (She said she was tired.)
• Combining Futur Simple with Conditionnel: Si tu étudies, tu réussiras. (If you study, you will succeed.)

Exercises

• Exercise 1: Identify the tenses in the following complex sentences.
• Exercise 2: Translate the sentences into French, maintaining tense consistency.

Conclusion

Mastering the art of combining tenses in French will enrich your understanding of the language and help you express yourself with greater depth and clarity.

Other Chapters

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

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Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

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Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

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Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

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Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

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Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

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Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

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Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

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Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

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The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

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The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

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Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

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Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

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Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

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Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

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Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds